Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei (Group Caring For the Ancestors
of Hawai`i) is a Native Hawaiian Organization dedicated to the proper treatment
of ancestral Native Hawaiians. Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei was
born December 1988 from the kaumaha (heaviness) and aokanaka
(enlightenment) caused by the archaeological disinterment of over 1,100
ancestral Native Hawaiians from Honokahua, Maui. The ancestral remains
were removed over the protests of the Native Hawaiian community in order
to build the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The desecration was stopped following
a 24-hour vigil at the State Capital. Governor John Waihe`e, a Native Hawaiian,
approved of a settlement that returned the ancestral remains to their one
hanau (birth sands), set aside the reburial site in perpetuity, and
moved the hotel inland and away from the ancestral resting place. Ironically,
Native Hawaiians fighting the approval of the Ritz Carlton Hotel project
advocated for the hotel to be moved away from the ancestral burial site
to begin with. Today, stone memorials and plaques mark the location of
the reinterment site, a chilly reminder of the pain, anguish, and shame
that could have been avoided if State and County officials and the private
landowner/developer had only listened to those who demanded the the hotel
not be built, or at least moved away from the Honokahua families.

In one sense Honokahua represents balance, for from this tragedy
came enlightment: the realization by living Native Hawaiians that we were
ultimately responsible for the care and protection of our ancestors and
that cultural protocols needed to be relearned and laws effectively changed
to create the empowerment necessary to carry out this important and time
honored responsibility to malama (take care) and kupale (protect)
our ancestors.

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei members have trained under the
direction of Edward and Pualani Kanahele of Hilo in traditional protocols
relating to care of na iwikupuna (ancestral remains). These
commitments were undertaken as a form of aloha and respect for our
own families, our ancestors, our parents, and our children:

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei has been taught by the Kanahele
family about the importance of pule (prayer) necessary to ho`olohe
(listen) to the calling of our ancestors. Through pule we request
the assistance of ke akua and our ancestors to provide us the tools
necessary to conduct our work:

Grant us knowledge, grant us strength, grant us intelligence, grant
us righteous understanding, grant us visions and avenues of communication,
grant us mana.

Moreover, we have been taught that the relationship between our ancestors
and ourselves is one of interdependence- as the living, we have a kuleana
(responsibility) to care for our kupuna (ancestors). In turn, our
ancestors respond by protecting us on the spiritual side. Hence, one side
cannot completely exist without the other.

Mana and spiritual contact with our gods and ancestors cannot be separated.

Proper treatments for our kupuna is essential for maintaining
our spiritual health and overall well being because they exist in us.

We are nourished through our cultural and religious beliefs and practices
while struggling to exist in modern Hawai`i.

Foremostly, ancestral burials sites must be left in place and undisturbed.

Regarding burial treatment, we defer to the wishes of identified lineal
descendants and the `ohana (family).

Our actions relating to care and protection of the kupuna are
governed by pono (righteousness).

We stringently object to the unnecessary handling of ancestral Native
Hawaiian remains, especially physical examination, any form of destructive
analysis, and photographs without the consent of lineal descendants and
the `ohana.

We advocate for tougher laws protective of ancestral burial sites and
their contents from economic, archaeological, and anthropological exploitation.

We stand by to assist Native Hawaiian families wishing to take responsibility
for the care and protection of ancestral remains and burial sites.

We will set an example for our children such that when our time comes,
we will know our bones will be protected

Our work to repatriate and reinter ancestral Native Hawaiians is intended
to restore the responsibilities of caring for our families; it is our gift
of aloha to these ancestors and their `ohana and intended
to strengthen the foundation of the Hawaiian Nation.

Goals:

Provide ancestral and living Native Hawaiians with traditional interment
and reinterment services.

Repatriation and burial site protection required changes in federal
and state laws. Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei is honored to have
participated in successful efforts to enact the National Museum of the
American Indian Act (P.L. 101-185, November, 1989, "NMAIA") and
the Native
American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act ("NAGPRA")
(P.L. 101-601, November 16, 1990). Although Native Hawaiians are not formally
recognized as Native Americans, for purposes of NMAIA and NAGPRA, Native
Hawaiians enjoy Native American status. Moreover, Native Hawaiian organizations
enjoy legal authorities comparable to Indian tribes. Hui Malama I Na Kupuna
O Hawai`i Nei and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are specifically named
as Native Hawaiian organizations eligible to conduct repatriation of cultural
items and to participate in consultation relating to the treatment of inadvertently
discovered Native Hawaiian remains and other cultural items on Federal
and Hawaiian Home lands.

NAGPRA gave Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei legal standing to bring
the ancestors home back to their `ohana and to protect the sanctity
of traditional burial sites. This meant contacting museums nation wide
to inquire whether the institution housed Native Hawaiian skeletal remains
or funerary objects and if so, begin the process of repatriation and reinterment.

Moreover, the passage of Act 306 in 1990 has provided a higher degree
of protection for Native Hawaiian burial and reburial sites in the State
of Hawai`i through the creation of island burial councils comprised of
a majority of Native Hawaiians, as well as representatives of large landowners
and developers. The councils have the legal authority to determine whether
to preserve in place or relocate previously identified Native Hawaiian
burial sites situate on state, county, and private land. In addition, the
councils have the authority to render recommendations regarding any burial
related matter, including the treatment of inadvertently discovered Native
Hawaiian skeletal remains.

Completed Repatriations
from National and International Institutions:

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai`i Nei has repatriated and reinterred
ancestral Native Hawaiian remains and funerary objects from the following
institutions:

National

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Washington,
D.C.)

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (Honolulu, Hawai`i)

American Museum of Natural History (New York, New York)

Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago, Illinois)

University of Alaska Museum (Fairbanks, Alaska)

Brigham Young University Museum of Peoples and Cultures (Provo,
Utah)

Milwaukee Public Museum (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

San Diego Museum of Man (San Diego, California)

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Sacramento Science Center (Sacramento, California)

University of Oregon Museum of Natural History (Eugene, Oregon)

Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts)

Phoebe Hearst Museum at the University of California (Berkeley,
California)

Second, establish a working relationship with museum staff. The effort
will help establish and clarify the museum's philosophy with regard to
NAGPRA compliance.

Third, identify the decision-making process or hierarchy at the museum.
Be clear who the decision makers are and make it clear to the museum who
your decision makers are.

Fourth, for purposes of clarity, reduce discussions to writing wherever
possible. Leave little to assumption. Moreover, copy the National Park
Service NAGPRA program on correspondences.

Fifth, in problematic cases with uncooperative museums, ask your congressional
delegation to write letters or make telephone calls. In extremely problematic
cases - and where the culture agrees - use the media to convey your intentions.
We have found from experience that society in general agrees with good
faith efforts to return ancestral remains, rather than with museum demands
to withhold them from reburial.

Finally, whenever making an assertion, ask the museum official to explain
back to you what they think you meant. For example, we may say to Museum
X, "Don't study our ancestors." By this we mean no taking or
gleaning of any scientific data whatsoever. However, the museum may think
we meant, "minimal recording of age, sex stature, pathologies, cranial
measurements, dentition, and ethnicity determination is acceptable, but
not intrusive examinations such as DNA analysis or carbon dating."

If we do not clarify what we mean, the museum may think it adequately
consulted with us. For their part, encourage museums to request clarification
of any statement or action by the group or any member.